Curse

Maxiemonster · Apr 15, 2006, 10:05 PM // 22:05

*Tips are very welcome, I've only played this build once (Orozar quest), and it worked, but it's probably far from perfect*

Introduction:
It always used to be 2 Necromacers dealing all the damage, but in this build, an Earth Elementalist takes over the role of the Spiteful Spirit Necromancer. This has 2 reasons. Earth Elementalists have great defence, making him a perfect tank, and Spiteful Spirit takes 2 seconds too cast, which is easily interupted, unlike the 1 second cast Spells from many Earth Magic spells. Of course, you still need a Monk, and a Minion Master has always been the perfect thing to take in Sorrow's Furnace.

The Monk:
Skills:
1. Reversal of Fortune
2. Mend Ailment
3. Blessed Signet
4. Life Barrier [Elite]
5. Life Bond
6. Life Attunement
7. Balthazar's Spirit
8. Divine Boon

Attributes:
Protection Prayers: 15
Divine Favor: 16

Short Guide:
Cast in these orders Life Barrier, Life Bond, Balthazar's Spirit and Life Attunement on the Elementalist, Balthazar's Spirit and Divine Boon on yourself and when you're in Grenth's Footprints also cast Life Barrier and Life Bond on the Necromancer. Simply heal with Reversal of Fortune and Mend Ailment (keep in mind that you heal alot more with Life Attunement), and use Blessed Signet whenever it's needed (which is mostly directly when it recharges).

The Earth Elementalist:
Skills:
1. Crystal Wave
2. Aftershock
3. Kinetic Armor
4. Armor of Earth
5. Obsidian Flesh [Elite]
6. Ward Against Elements
7. Ward Against Melee
8. Essence Bond

Attributes:
Earth Magic: 16
Energy Storage: 13

Short Guide:
The Elementalist is the main tank. He storms in first, and holds the Gear/Ural inside Sorrow's Furnace. Crystal Wave and Aftershock are your damage dealing skills. It's a bit less effective, but it works really well. You cast Essence Bond first after Life Barrier was cast on you, followed by the rest of the Monk's enchantments, since you won't be able to get Essence Bond back up during battle if it gets removed. Cast Kinetic Armor, Armor of Earth and Obsidian Flesh in that order and then aggro the enemies. Cast your Wards when you're next to them and then just cast Crystal Wave and Aftershock, and keep your enchantments up. Since you gain 2 Energy each hit, you shouldn't have much problems with Energy, especially against bigger groups.

The Minion Master:
Since there are many Minion Master builds, I'm not adding one. Take one you prefer, as long as it works, it should be fine. I prefer a N/E with Glyph of Renewal and Glyph of Lesser Energy myself, but as I said, it's a matter of preference

I hope you enjoyed my guide and 3-manning Sorrow's Furnace.
Max.

Ira Blinks · Apr 15, 2006, 10:22 PM // 22:22

aint you get interrupted all over the place with that ele?

Edit: Also swap around Balthazars and Essence bond. You dont need that much energy even if you'd be spamming daggers, but monk could use that.

Edit: Also how do you keep kinetic up with just crystal wave and aftershock? iirc they have 20 and 10 seconds recharge time, while kinetic has to be renewed at least every 7 seconds (8 minus cast time)

Maxiemonster · Apr 15, 2006, 10:26 PM // 22:26

Occasionally, but less then I expected

EDIT: And Energy is quite needed as that Elementalist build, 1 Energy each hit is a bit too few sometimes, it's better then nothing. And an enchantment more doesn't kill the Monk, your Blessed Signet also improves, so it doesn't matter much.

EDIT: You have to wait between Aftershock and Crystal Wave, and you can also recast Armor of Earth, OF, and your Wards. It should be enough.

Shadow-Hunter · Apr 15, 2006, 10:36 PM // 22:36

Sry to say but how can crystal wave and Aftershock replace the dmg of SS?.. im not sure how Sf necros do, but if you Arcane echo ss and cast on 2 monsters then every time the 2 curses monsters hit all enemys take like 40 dmg.. if a monster hit 1 time a sec then its 80 armor ignoreing dmg each sec or something like that.. Cant see how Aftershock with 10 sec recharge and crystal wave with (not sure on recharge here) but at least 10+ sec too can do nearly as much dmg as a Ss necro :S .. But then again im not sure.. just seems like alot less dmg..

~Shadow

Maxiemonster · Apr 15, 2006, 10:40 PM // 22:40

I'm not saying they're as good as SS, I'm just saying they replace it.

And you're right, these skills aren't as good as SS, but you're doing this with 3 people, what do you expect?

Ira Blinks · Apr 16, 2006, 12:15 AM // 00:15

I dont know... when i solo farm with my ele I use balthazar's spirit only and it gives me plenty of energy to spam offencive stuff. Maybe you problem is that you tryed essence bond first... Essence bond does not give energy from things like magical projectiles, while balthazars gives energy every time you take damage regardless of source.
If you make that swap you can free up even more slots, because realistically monk will only need life barrier and essence bond (+vital blessing if you like) and something to heal you... Reversal of fortune seem rather useless since it heals amount of health you would lose from attack after your armor applied to it. I would take healing breeze - works well for both healing and covering up enchants.

I still cant get over the fact you had little problem with interrupts... Those damn midgets really love to interrupt me even on 1 second spells

Maxiemonster · Apr 16, 2006, 12:53 AM // 00:53

Seem logical to me. I only based the Balthazar's Spirit and Essence Bond Energy gain on what I saw, which was the Ele saying he was low on Energy all the time.

Guess he wasn't that aware of what to cast (since it was his first time), and he spammed the wrong stuff.

And yes, I'd love to swap out Balthazar's Spirit for Life Attunement, which would rock as well.

I don't really get you about RoF, it heals for X points, regardless how much armor was applied, and that's very nice for a 1/4 cast and 2 seconds recharge. And switching to Healing Breeze is useless, this isn't a 55Hp build, and putting points in Healing Prayers wouldn't be that smart either.

Tainek · Apr 16, 2006, 01:19 AM // 01:19

Ran a very similar build a while back, stopped because of the lesser and lesser value of SF for farming

And the ele should be using a +20% item, so renewing kinetic isnt too hard

Maxiemonster · Apr 16, 2006, 11:30 AM // 11:30

Yep, 40% skill recharge helps as well

jummeth · Apr 16, 2006, 08:38 PM // 20:38

Doesn't the wards make Balths and essense in-effective?

Koning · Apr 17, 2006, 09:47 AM // 09:47

think so, and maybe u need something to interrupt the monks (bosses)... other than that great thinking, i should try this!

TheArrow · Apr 17, 2006, 01:01 PM // 13:01

I'd rather bring a Spiteful Spirit Necromancer still. Tell him to bring Mantra of Resolve with a decent level in Inspiration Magic to prevent interrupts. Also, I think Mend Condition works better for the bigger heal it gives you.

Maxiemonster · Apr 18, 2006, 04:50 PM // 16:50

I've tried 3-manning with an SS Necro, but it's very hard as a Monk. I ran these skills as a Monk:

1. Mend Condition
2. Vital Blessing
3. Blessed Signet
4. Life Barrier [Elite]
5. Life Bond
6. Life Attunement
7. Balthazar's Spirit
8. Divine Boon

I used Mend Condition as my main Healing skill, and Vital Blessing as self heal and as a second heal, 12 Energy for just the Divine Favor and Divine Boon offer is indeed high, I know, but I just can't miss any of the skills I have right now.

I really need to come up as a Tanking build that can simply take all damage, without any (or few) help from teammates. I really want a 3-man build where both the SS and the MM can walk freely.

Koning · Apr 18, 2006, 07:02 PM // 19:02

ur monk build is good and i like it very much, never tried the earth ele build but guildies say it suck, so i tried it with normal ss as tank this morning and we came far and hadn't any problems, till the point where we have to defend oro (we took oro), but there we got overwhelmed and i needed to heal the mm but that was just too much for me, to heal 2 man. maybe we need to farm without any quests, anyone got idea? (or way to not die at point to defend oro?)

Evilsod · Apr 18, 2006, 07:04 PM // 19:04

How do you intend to kill bosses w/ Dredge spamming Savage Shot, Disrupting Chop and Dwarves using Heavy Blow?

There is absolutely no reason to try any less than 5man imo, WAY too many things can go wrong, and when they do, your dead.

Maxiemonster · Apr 20, 2006, 03:20 PM // 15:20

4-man rocks, 5-man is just old news. Taking 2 Monks is just a complete waste.

If an MM just had enough Skill slots and attribute points to put in Life Barrier and/or Life Bond ^^

Koning · Apr 21, 2006, 10:25 AM // 10:25

we can easy do a 3 man FA run, ss=tank, take mm for fast killing and the monk who bonds/heals, only challenge is sometimes the massive degen from taskmasters.
this run is just as fast as 5 man and a lot more fun and better drops...!

Cymboric Treewalker · Apr 21, 2006, 12:23 PM // 12:23

Bah...

No Mesmers -- this build will clearly fail.

Seriously a Me/E or E/Me would be better for energy management.

ender6 · Apr 21, 2006, 05:55 PM // 17:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cymboric Treewalker

Bah...

No Mesmers -- this build will clearly fail.

Seriously a Me/E or E/Me would be better for energy management.

For SF farming with Balz you have unlimited energy so BAH right backatcha.

Maxi --> I know we don't see eye to eye on SF farming, but you really should revisit N/Me as your tank. With Mantra of Resolve he won't have a problem performing his offensive responsibilities. Add things like plague sending, and you can really accelerate the kills.

**Seen it done, was amazing, wasn't my build so I don't know the particulars. SS/Mantra Of Resolve/Plague Sending/Shivers/Arcane Echo
That's more than half the skill bar right there to get you started.

Francis Crawford · Apr 21, 2006, 11:08 PM // 23:08

If the Earth elementalist is holding the gear, what does it matter what mods are on the weapons in his weapon slots?

But I can see where the wards make a lot of sense; they help protect the minions as well as the elementalist.

It would be a huge help if the elementalist could find enough energy just from Balth's Spirit -- Serpent's Quickness doesn't just help with Permanent Obsidian Flesh, it also helps with speed casting the damage spells (assuming there's enough energy, of course).

Alternatively, Spell Breaker instead of Life Barrier, if the Elementalist can stand the greater damage.